Choi Ga-on walks in very quietly with a faint smile, seemingly camera-shy. But just a month ago, this teenage South Korean snowboarder stunned the world when she made an incredible comeback from injury to complete her final halfpipe run at the Winter Olympics, clinching the gold despite a brutal crash.
Expectations were high coming into Italy; Choi is a prodigy in the sport, having racked up a plethora of titles at the X Games and International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cups in the years leading up to the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.
After cruising into the women’s halfpipe finals, she ambitiously started her first run with a fancy trick, but soon after, her board caught the lip of the slope.
The 17-year-old snowboarder landed upside down as she slipped down the pipe, lying motionless for several minutes as spectators gasped and remained silent and medics rushed to her side.
“Both my knees were not moving, so I thought that was the end of my run,” Choi recently told CNN Sports from the South Korean capital.
But when the stretcher arrived, she somehow got up. People cheered in the moment, but Choi’s coach was worried about her, submitting a DNS (Did Not Start) for her second run.
Unbeknownst to everyone, Choi had suffered three fractures in her left hand in addition to her leg injuries, but she still wanted to push on.
“I cried on the ride up and on the slope,” Choi recalled. “But I didn’t want to regret about this moment all my life, so I withdrew the DNS and decided to compete.”
Her second run though ended with another fall and things started to look bleak for the precocious teenager.
Born to be snowboarder
Choi is the third of four siblings born to snowboard enthusiast parents, the roots of her competitiveness.
“I have an older sister and brother, so anything we did, I didn’t want to lose. I have a competitive spirit thanks to my siblings,” Choi said.
“When we snowboard, I used to follow my brother and whatever trick he did, I had to do it as well – I didn’t want to lose.”
It was the speed as she flew through the winter air over snowy slopes that seven-year-old Choi fell in love with and that was when she decided to pursue the sport as a career.
Her father dropped everything, including his job, to support his daughter’s dream, always accompanying her wherever. She calls him her friend, chef and driver as he carries her snowboard up the mountains, cooks Korean food when abroad, cleans her board and drives 14 hours for her training sessions.
“The fact that he quit his job, which he might have enjoyed, and invested his life to support me is an honor for me,” she said.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
0 ความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น